Sportblog + Matt Prior | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog+matt-prior
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Matt Prior, the buzzing hub behind England’s most successful Test side | Mike Selveyhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/jun/11/matt-prior-england-test-cricket-wicketkeeper
<p>The wicketkeeper and batsman retires from cricket knowing his record stands up against some of the very best to feature behind the stumps</p><p>The wicketkeeper is the focal point, the beating heart, of any cricket team. Bowlers bowl through to them, fielders return the ball to them. They are the unflagging lifters of spirits when the going gets tough, the cajolers, the user of stick or carrot, the irritants of batsmen. They see the angles for fielders, spot bowling flaws, suggest tactics from their vantage point and nowadays are the first port of call for a review of a decision. These are good lieutenants. It is a job from which there is no respite.</p><p>For eight summers, from his 2007 century-making debut against West Indies at Lord’s to his final match against India last year at Lord’s once again, Matt Prior provided the buzzing hub of the most successful of all England sides. Three times he was an Ashes winner, home and away. It was Prior who was behind the stumps when England beat India away for the first time in getting on for three decades.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jun/11/matt-prior-announces-retirement-professional-cricket-england">Matt Prior announces retirement from professional cricket</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/jun/11/matt-prior-england-test-cricket-wicketkeeper">Continue reading...</a>Matt PriorEngland cricket teamCricketSportThu, 11 Jun 2015 14:34:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/jun/11/matt-prior-england-test-cricket-wicketkeeperPhotograph: Tom Shaw/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Tom Shaw/Getty ImagesMike Selvey2015-06-11T14:34:09ZKevin Pietersen never really fitted the sporting mantra of no ‘I’ in team | Mike Selveyhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/14/kevin-pietersen-england
The former England batsman’s legacy should be his stellar performances, rather than the tawdry tome flying off the shelves<br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/11/kevin-pietersen-autobiography-rage-riches-sad-ugly" title="">• Vic Marks: A lucrative but ugly way to go</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/11/kevin-pietersen-book-tarnished-england-alastair-cook" title="">• Book has tarnished England era, says Cook</a><br /><p>There are few sports that have the complexity of cricket, where a whole series of contests, one on one, ultimately are embraced within a team context. In cricket, the individual performance matters, but always, for the greatest impact, it has to be channelled towards the collective end.</p><p>Individuality alone is insufficient in the long term. So it was instructive to find that towards the end of the inevitable circuit of soft, carefully tailored interviews and appearances to promote his book, the most telling remark to Kevin Pietersen, the only one that cut through the PR pap, came from the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04l3xyw/the-graham-norton-show-series-16-episode-3" title="">chatshow host Graham Norton</a>. It was an uncomfortably gauche appearance by Pietersen, sat on a sofa alongside a worryingly unfunny John Cleese and an utterly bemused Taylor Swift, and towards the end Norton, who did not appear to much care for his guest, cut to the chase. “I want to put this nicely,” he said to Pietersen, “but reading the book, it strikes me that maybe, just maybe, team sport’s not for you?”</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/14/kevin-pietersen-england">Continue reading...</a>Kevin PietersenEngland cricket teamCricketGraham NortonAndy FlowerECBMatt PriorSportTue, 14 Oct 2014 21:00:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/14/kevin-pietersen-englandPhotograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty ImagesDon't look back in anger: Kevin Pietersen will come to regret how he finished his England career. Photograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty ImagesDon't look back in anger: Kevin Pietersen will come to regret how he finished his England career. Photograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty ImagesMike Selvey2014-10-14T21:00:03ZKevin Pietersen accuses England of bullying culture – as it happenedhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/live/2014/oct/06/kevin-pietersen-accuses-england-bullying-culture-latest-reaction
<p>All the reaction as it happened as Kevin Pietersen accused the England cricket team of fostering a ‘bullying culture’ in the dressing room</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/06/kevin-pietersen-england-bullying-culture">Pietersen says former coach Andy Flower ‘ruled by fear’</a></li><li>Pietersen: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/06/kevin-pietersen-alastair-cook-paralysed-ashes-row">Cook ‘paralysed’ by post-Ashes row</a></li><li>Full analysis and reaction on our cricket page<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/cricket"><br></a></li></ul><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T14:27:41.483Z">3.27pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>And that’s probably enough for now. A quick review of the day...<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T14:10:12.859Z">3.10pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Ah, I’ve just been handed a copy of Matt Prior’s 2013 autobiography ‘The Gloves Are Off’,</strong> and it features the following explanation: </p><p>My nickname is ‘the Cheese’, or just ‘Cheese’. It’s a terrible nickname, but complaining about nicknames is never a wise policy. You just hope they go away. Unfortunately this one hasn’t, and most of the England team still call me by it, especially Stuart Broad, who absolutely delights in calling me by it. Swanny and Jimmy Anderson quite like it too, as you can imagine. Andy Flower? He just calls me Matt...</p><p>‘The Cheese’ stems from my early days at Sussex. I can’t even remember who first called me by it, but, as I say, it has certainly stuck. Basically, with the blonde tips and highlights in my hair (believe it or not, I did have hair once) and my stud earring, I used to strut around a bit in those days. I didn’t think I was ‘the Big Cheese’, but other obviously did believe that was how I saw myself.</p><p>There are many players in the game who have a bit of a strut, but they often put it on. For others it is just the way they are. Take Kevin Pietersen. He walks around any cricket field on which he is playing as if he owns the place. But that is what makes him the player that he is. It is not at all forced. That’s the way he is. It’s the aura that he holds.<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:56:04.414Z">2.56pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>If you’ll allow me to return to the Cheese issue,</strong> do you reckon it caught on? Prior may have referred to himself as the Big Cheese, but did anyone else? Or did it go a little something like this?</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:50:36.508Z">2.50pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Paul Downton says to the best of his knowledge, there's never been a formal complaint made about bullying or bullying culture in Eng team</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:46:26.348Z">2.46pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Jamie Fewery makes a good point:</strong> “Couple of things to note so far. I do think KP can be a prize eejit. But I think that most of the claims in this book are true. For one, because the publisher’s lawyers will have been through it about 100 times. For two, it seems consistent with many spectators’ impressions of the team dynamic over the past 2 years. And for three, because ghostwriter David Walsh knows a thing or two about spotting lying sportsmen.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:45:29.045Z">2.45pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Excellent cricket journalist <a href="http://www.twitter.com/thecricketgeek">Peter Miller</a> (no relation, as far as we know)</strong> has been speed-reading the book, and his initial reactions include the following:</p><p>“As far as revelations are concerned far and away the most interesting is the ones surrounding KPGenius. He says that his team mates were tweeting from the account. This seems like a much bigger breach of trust than having a text conversation with players from the other team. One is private, the other is not. As KP says, sports (and any job) is filled with people bitching about each other. Doing it in private seems a much smaller crime than mocking a team mate in public.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:43:20.771Z">2.43pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Possible business idea...</strong><br></p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/NickMiller79">@NickMiller79</a> Prior's after-dinner speaking tour with Sergio Busquets sure to be a big hit.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:42:58.793Z">2.42pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Here’s Pietersen on the land of his birth...</strong><br></p><p>One big mistake was not respecting South Africa and what it stands for. Not respecting South Africa and what the country gave me in terms of living there for 19 happy years ... I realise too that South Africa was my first home and my real home.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:30:51.184Z">2.30pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Paging Jo Moore...</strong></p><p>KP's publishers won't be happy that Dale Benkenstein's chosen today of all days to announce retirement. Talk about stealing the limelight...</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:27:52.064Z">2.27pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Anyone...?</strong></p><p>Disappointed by the lack of awful 'Matt Prior is crackers' jokes</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:26:46.522Z">2.26pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>“Who knew that (alleged) bullying in the workplace could be so amusing?” chuckles Clive Wilshin. Quite so, Clive.<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:24:56.697Z">2.24pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Tim Sanders has a theory about the KP story being an allegory, </strong>referring to a tale that is an allegory itself. Ooooh, meta.<br></p><p>“The stuff about the three top bowlers allegedly ruling the roost to the extent of bullying, has an Orwellian ring to it. The downtrodden workers of the team – traditionally the Players rather than the Gentlemen – rise up in revolt, only to turn into a ruling class even more dictatorial than the capitalists used to be. I’m not saying Pietersen is right, I know nothing – but as a story, it’s a remake of “Animal Farm”. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:23:25.509Z">2.23pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>“There’s always two sides to the coin,”</strong> says Mike Gatting, a man who is no stranger to cheese himself. “I just hope everyone enjoys reading it and moves on.”<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:22:34.846Z">2.22pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>In the mood for some cheese,</strong> for some reason.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:17:11.233Z">2.17pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>We promise this is a coincidence, </strong>but on the same day that a cricketer who thinks plenty of himself is all over the place, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/06/zlatan-ibrahimovic-trash-talking-sweden-record-golascorer">Donald McRae has been talking to Zlatan Ibrahimovic</a>.</p><p>So how did this punk from Rosengard get all the way to where I am now?” he asks. “Nobody believed I could do it. Everybody was trash-talking. They thought I will go away because I have a big mouth. They thought this guy’s vision is crazy. It will not happen. But I had these dreams of where I would end up. And now here I am.”</p><p>Ibrahimovic pauses to draw breath but the 33 birthday candles can wait. He has so many words to blow out before then. “Let’s go back 15 years and all I saw then has come true. Everybody who was trash-talking me? Now they are eating their words. This is my real trophy.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:09:51.349Z">2.09pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>A confirmed zing here,</strong> in reference to him not passing on tactical information about Andrew Stra...sorry, ‘Straussy’ to the South Africans, on the basis that there would be no point:<br></p><p> “There were retired second-string club cricketers in Bradford who would have known how to get Andrew Strauss out. Bowl around the wicket.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T13:01:15.098Z">2.01pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Something to read on the plane, sir...?</strong></p><p>Panama hat, passport, long haul. See you when I get back!</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:58:11.010Z">1.58pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Here’s a bit more on the ‘bullying culture’ </strong>Pietersen alluded to in the Telegraph interview:</p><p>They (the batsmen) would just take the abuse on a daily basis: Move! F***, come on, for f***’s sake! What the f*** are you doing? But then, in a Test match against Bangladesh, Trott...just cracked. He started swearing right back at Prior and Swann. Just shouting, ‘Will you f*** off? Who the f*** do you think you are?’ I’d been wanting to ask that question for some time. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:51:17.713Z">1.51pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>And the ghostwriter speaks.</strong> I think he’s talking about us, here...</p><p>So the KP book has been tossed into the ring, like a slab of raw meat into a kennel packed with ravenous hounds. It's a feast they'll enjoy.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:49:20.236Z">1.49pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>The bigger man,</strong> clearly...</p><p>I stopped calling him a weasel &gt; RT <a href="https://twitter.com/legsidelizzy">@legsidelizzy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/piersmorgan">@piersmorgan</a> and did you lay off Cook after he asked you to?</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:46:07.064Z">1.46pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Oh my....</p><p>Ooh there's a 2-page email from Rahul Dravid about playing spin reprinted word for word. Forget the other guff. There's the book right there</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:45:34.099Z">1.45pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Interesting section on the James Taylor incident. He blames Prior for the "leak" but says he spoke to James in private.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:42:57.748Z">1.42pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>It was hinted at earlier,</strong> but the bits about Matt Prior and the cheese are utterly magnificent....</p><p>He is dominating the place, and has taken to referring to himself as the Big Cheese (or, informally, Cheese). As in, the Big Cheese is pleased with how he played today. The Big Cheese has earned some beer tonight. Cheese went out last night. Cheese went to bat today. Who does that? I don’t know how he got the name, but he’d started using it a lot...</p><p>I hear the way the Big Cheese and the little Baby Cheeses talk in the dressing room, the way they go about their business and the stuff they say to other players both on and off the field, and I realise how little the media know about what goes on inside a team. <br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:23:10.820Z">1.23pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>KP on pop...</strong></p><p>KP's very sweet and supportive on Liberty X "They put in the hard yards, kept making great songs.."</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:22:08.201Z">1.22pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Pietersen apparently cried in a meeting with Andy Flower</strong> about the notorious ‘KP Genius’ Twitter account, and...</p><p>KP says he didn't call Strauss a doos, he just didn't disagree when someone said that to him. Says players were tweeting from parody account</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:19:27.437Z">1.19pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:02:12.945Z">1.02pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>And the debate summed up...</strong></p><p>KP Fans: "This book shows I was right all along." KP critics: "This book shows I was right all along" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KP?src=hash">#KP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pietersen?src=hash">#pietersen</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T12:00:55.220Z">1.00pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Some odd stuff in this book. Apparently KP disapproves of pay TV and the ECB chasing the money. Why hello there, mr ghost writer</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T11:56:05.656Z">12.56pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Here he is on Andrew Strauss and the whole nonsense with the text messages (or BBMs, if you want to be pernickety).</strong> It speaks to just how entrenched the standard sportsman’s nickname of simply adding a ‘y’ to the end of names is that even in this context, Pietersen continues to call the former skipper ‘Straussy.’<br></p><p>The next day Strauss called me on his own and we had a fine, big dingdong. He accused me of having done it. I admitted I had been in communication with the South Africans, but it was nothing bad. ’These guys are friends. You guys have been treating me like sh** for three years. You’ve been acting like a d*** to me’. I went through example after example. The only thing I was guilty of was not defending my captain.<br></p><p>Then Straussy, the elder statesman, gave his view. Banter in private messages = huge issue. Bullying in the dressing room princess-and-the-pea nonsense. They didn’t want me to speak to the South Africans - some of my closest friends. The Andys were very big on that. It was a typical Andy Flower tick-box exercise: no fraternising. Straussy, the enforcer, pulled me away from South African friends on a couple of occasions - embarrassing me. </p><p>It was just chatter. He [the South Africa player] said that Strauss was carrying on like an idiot, and that was it. It was nothing that I wouldn’t actually say to Straussy myself, at the time or now. I have never and would never give any tactical information about any of my England team-mates to anyone on the opposing side. It goes right to the heart of me as a professional and me as a human being.</p><p>I wanted Moores to sit in the back seat. To facilitiate. In hindsight, I don’t think he is actually capable of doing that. Moores told everybody that everything between us was great, that KP would be his own man, but he never took his hands off the steering wheel for a moment. Whatever dial is in Peter Moores’ head, it can’t be turned down to ‘chill.’ The man can’t relax. <br></p><p>I could never relax when he was around. He was always around. I couldn’t act effectively as captain with the woodpecker on my shoulder, and the players were getting fed up with Moores’ coaching. We had been kings of the world in 2005. Under Moores, we had played 22 Tests and won only eight. <br><br>I told [ECB chairman Giles] Clarke I no longer wanted to captain England, because of the relationship with Peter Moores. I gave it to him straight: this can’t carry on, so let me step down if you want this guy to coach. He’s putting too much pressure on us, he’s killing our spirits. I told Clarke that I couldn’t captain with this Moores; I’d rather just go back into the ranks and bat. That was it. I didn’t say it’s him or me. No chance. Never. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T11:43:24.814Z">12.43pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>More KP: “Cricket is politics. Bad politics...I was a cricketer stuck in a world of small time politicians and bluff merchants."</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T11:41:10.625Z">12.41pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>A few bits on Cook, now, </strong>starting with the skipper’s reaction to/handling off Pietersen’s sacking:<br></p><p>I was disappointed. I had gone out of my way to support him on the Ashes tour,. The next time I saw Cooky he was staring at his shoes while I was being told I would not be included in the England squads in the Caribbean or in the World T20. </p><p>I was disappointed in him then. I thought the way he behaved called into question his qualifications to be captain. But I know too that he is a decent guy and that he was paralysed by how uncomfortable it all was.</p><p>Alastair Cook knows that on the Ashes tour there were absolutely no problems with me in the dressing room. Alastair Cook knows that I scored the most runs for England on that tour. Alastair Cook knows that I had his back 100 per cent. </p><p>Any advice I could give, I did. I opened the door and said to him, listen, I am here to help you. I want you to be successful. I told him that again and again. If he needed me at any time, I would be there. I know, though, that while Cooky is a nice man, he is also a company man. A safe pair of hands; he won’t rock the boat...</p><p>I didn’t mind that Paul Downton, according to Google, was a middle-order batsman with a Test average of under 20. But I did mind that as an administrative employee of the ECB he felt free to critique the performances of players, indeed that he had the right to do so.<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T11:34:18.610Z">12.34pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>KP claims he told Piers Morgan to lay off Cook in his tweets. I don't think he did but KP says he asked him to.</p><p><strong>Just as Pietersen seems to be a figure that divides opinion,</strong> Morgan is surely one that unites everybody.<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T11:31:42.192Z">12.31pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Rick James</strong> - although presumably not <em>that</em> Rick James because a) the 80s Super Freak songster and unwitting star of the Dave Chapelle Show isn’t known for his love of cricket and b) is dead - writes, about Pietersen and coaches:<br></p><p>“Not sure if KP covers his recent stint as Delhi Daredevils skipper in the IPL in the book at all, but in the Telegraph interview he talks about Gary Kirsten as the best coach in the world right now.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T11:21:22.294Z">12.21pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Find all the fall out in English Cricket very very sad...Many to blame but mostly it's been a lack of communication and Man Management....</p><p>Won't play for England again.So I will remember <a href="https://twitter.com/KP24">@KP24</a> for what he was.A maverick who could play innings that no other England player could.!</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T11:20:24.671Z">12.20pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Hats off to Tim Abraham on Sky, who is standing outside the Grace Gates at Lord’s with a copy of the book.</strong> Given the ECB are yet to receive an advance copy, you have to say that’s some first-class trolling.<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T11:09:46.008Z">12.09pm <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>It’s childish to find this quite so amusing,</strong> but...</p><p>The ECB says despite efforts they haven't yet received a copy of <a href="https://twitter.com/KP24">@KP24</a> book and can't comment until they have</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:59:27.933Z">11.59am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Always a shrewdie,</strong> is Monty...<br></p><p>Pivotal Melbourne meeting - <a href="https://twitter.com/KP24">@KP24</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/MattPrior13">@MattPrior13</a> agree that Flower is problem but argue over who thought so first - <a href="https://twitter.com/MontyPanesar">@MontyPanesar</a> said 1/2</p><p>2/2 <a href="https://twitter.com/MontyPanesar">@MontyPanesar</a> "Actually, I think Mitchell Johnson is the reason we're losing every game"</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:57:38.314Z">11.57am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Richard Bowen</strong> - I wonder, is it the same Richard Bowen with whom I worked on a trade magazine in Stockport some ten years ago? Salad days... - writes in, about genius and management:<br></p><p>“Paul Gascoigne, Ayrton Senna and dare I say it, even Geoff Boycott. All were geniuses at their given sports and had the egos to match. Without that unwavering self-belief would these mercurial talents have written their names into sporting folklore? I doubt it. But what is also true of these ‘flawed geniuses’ is that they needed a special kind of management to get the best out of them. That the ECB could not find a way of managing Pietersen after Fletcher left the England set-up is a scathing indictment on their own inability to find a way of ensuring such a talent isn’t wasted.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:54:42.962Z">11.54am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>An alternative title for the book, perhaps?</strong></p><p>While hardliners on both sides will remain unmoved, suspect most will conclude that KP is a prick with a point. So to speak.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:53:28.527Z">11.53am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>This seems to be as close as he’s got to self-reflection at the moment...</strong><br></p><p>“I didn’t always tread wisely. I was often naive and sometimes stupid. I was no villain though.” </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:48:29.038Z">11.48am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Blimey...</strong></p><p>Andy Flower. Contagiously sour. Infectiously dour. He could walk into a room and suck all the joy out of it in five seconds. Just a mood hoover. That’s how I came to think of him: a Mood Hoover. </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:45:32.122Z">11.45am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>This of course is all very good fun,</strong> but one other notable occasion today is Richie Benaud’s 84th birthday. Happy birthday to the great man.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:41:00.869Z">11.41am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>More from the Pietersen nicknames dept:</strong> Alastair Cook, about whom he was surprisingly nice in the Telegraph interview, is known as Ned Flanders.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:32:31.657Z">11.32am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>The people have spoken...</strong></p><p><a href="https://twitter.com/barneyronay">@barneyronay</a> can't you just skip forward to the bit where he slags everyone off?</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:27:28.609Z">11.27am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Another topic which will presumably be covered in the book</strong> is his rather spicy relationship with various counties, most notably Nottinghamshire but also Hampshire and possibly Surrey. </p><p>His departure from Notts was particularly spectacular, after declaring at the end of the 2004 season that he no longer wanted to play for the county, captain Jason Gallian hoyed the batsman’s kit out of the dressing room window. “Well, yeah,” said Notts coach Mick Newell at the time. “These things happen in players’ dressing rooms in the heat of the moment. Like managers kicking boots and throwing tea cups.” </p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:19:32.871Z">11.19am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>One wonders who is responsible for some of the neater turns of phrase in the book</strong> - Pietersen, or his ghostwriter David Walsh. Either way, comparing Peter Moores to a woodpecker “tapping on our heads, all day every day” and a “human triple-espresso” is very good.<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:11:17.133Z">11.11am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Pietersen, on his international future...</strong></p><p>“I’m not prepared to accept I will never play for England again ... I would be happy to come back. Anything can happen in cricket.”</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:09:12.773Z">11.09am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Ominous start. "KP is the only English player to have been named man of the tournament at the World Cup". Er...</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T10:08:05.963Z">11.08am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Some, of course, are not quite as enamoured with Pietersen as others, or indeed he is.</strong> Patrick Ford writes in: “The biggest problem with KP was that he simply wasn’t as good as his ego would have you believe. By the Sydney Test of 2013, Pietersen and Cook had played an almost identical number of Tests, and had scored an almost identical number of runs and centuries, at largely the same batting average.</p><p>“One is the nicest, most determined, ego-less and steely man to play for England; the other is Kevin Pietersen. Moreover, their rhetoric couldn’t be more contrasting: Cook constantly talks of his desire to improve, acknowledges technical flaws and goes away to try to rectify them. Pietersen stands tall, insisting: “That’s the way I play”. That kind of character is poisonous to a team culture built on graft and self-improvement.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:54:10.432Z">10.54am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>Where do you stand in the <a href="https://twitter.com/KP24">@KP24</a> debate? Here's a graph to help clear things up... <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KPgraph?src=hash">#KPgraph</a> <a href="http://t.co/9sX77xaypF">pic.twitter.com/9sX77xaypF</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:53:24.944Z">10.53am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>The first few snippets from the book are starting to dribble out,</strong> and a highlight so far is Prior’s apparent insistence on being called ‘the Big Cheese’, which Pietersen likens to “a Dairylea triangle thinking he was a Brie”.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:48:47.656Z">10.48am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>This paragraph,</strong> from <a href="http://www.missionsportsmanagement.com/kevin-pietersen">Pietersen’s management company in their blurb about the man in question</a>, is presented without comment.</p><p>Kevin is extremely articulate with stories detailing his triumph over adversity, his meticulous training and in-depth preparation, culminating in awe-inspiring perspectives.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:46:49.788Z">10.46am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>It’ll be interesting to see, in amongst all the recriminations and accusations and the complaints and the insistence that he’s an honest straight-talker, </strong>what Pietersen says about James Taylor. During the Test against South Africa at Headingley in 2012, which preceded the text messages sent to Graeme Smith about Andrew Strauss and the associated guffstorm, Pietersen allegedly made what we shall call for now ‘very derogatory’ remarks about the mini Nottinghamshire batsman. Will he come clean about that one?<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:36:30.776Z">10.36am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Hot take from the BBC’s man with the opinions...</strong></p><p>Any response to KP claim of bullying culture in England dressing room must come from ECB/coaches/players. Not a journo’s domain.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:34:13.025Z">10.34am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Happier times...</strong></p><p>It was once so different... <a href="http://t.co/zVqvVAMrMa">pic.twitter.com/zVqvVAMrMa</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:28:31.485Z">10.28am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>“Their lawyers have spoken to their lawyers,” </strong>says the man on Sky Sports News about the ECB and the publishers of Pietersen’s book. It’s going to be one of those days, one suspects.</p><p>Apparently the ECB are a little irked that they haven’t got an advance copy of the book, so can’t refute any of the accusations that he might make in the pages before they have to trot down to Waterstones to buy the thing.<br></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:25:58.732Z">10.25am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>It is of course probably worth reminding ourselves of why there is such a fuss about Kevin Pietersen.</strong> In short, he’s a genius, but it would be wasting your time to read anything I have to say about him when you could just read <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/feb/21/joy-of-six-kevin-pietersen">this utterly brilliant Joy of Six by Rob Smyth</a>:</p><p>It was not just that Pietersen did things mere mortals could not; he did things that were beyond his fellow immortals. Very few batsmen in history could have played Pietersen’s true masterpiece, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jh_oteucFU">the reintegration 186 at Mumbai</a>. That was deemed the fourth-best Test innings of all time <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Masterly-Batting-Great-Test-Centuries/dp/0956732119">in the book Masterly Batting</a>, the most forensic study of the greatest Test innings that we have come across. (Yes we did write an essay for the book but that’s not the point.)</p><p>Pietersen had three innings in the top 100 of that book; only Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Graham Gooch and Gordon Greenidge had more. Since Lara retired, nobody has played as many epics as Pietersen. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/feb/21/www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY2KQpMAxvI">There is also the weirdly underrated 142</a> in a low-scoring match at Edgbaston in 2006 (<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/225265.html">nobody else scored more than 30 in the first innings</a>), when he switch-hit Muttiah Muralitharan for six. There was the Ashes 158, which did not win a match but did win a mildly important series, and our personal favourite, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLp2QsaOvcI">the 149 against South Africa at Headingley on Super Saturday of the Olympics</a>. Trust Pietersen to rise to the big occasion.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:22:05.390Z">10.22am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p>“The KP interview felt directionless to me,” writes Dan Lucas, of this parish. “I mean, I just wish he’d mention what on earth it is he’s promoting once in a while. And who England’s all-time leading run scorer is.”</p><p>Does anyone have those pieces of information? Struggling to find them here.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:19:27.399Z">10.19am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Pietersen of course takes aim at Flower in a big way as well.</strong></p><p>I’ve been one of the only ones who’ve constantly through his reign as coach not said ‘how high?’ when he said ‘jump’. He built a regime, he didn’t build a team. I’ve told him this before. I told him during his coaching reign. I told him on numerous occasions: ‘You’re playing by fear here, you want guys to be scared of you. And Andy I’m not scared of you.’ And he hated it. He had it in for me since I tried to get rid of him as second in command. He collected stamps. It was stamp after stamp after stamp, until he thought: ‘I can get rid of him now, let’s get rid of him.’...</p><p>Andy Flower is a master at managing upwards. He’s got Giles Clarke in his pocket. You know what, Giles Clarke probably thought – he’s getting results, so he must be doing something right. But he was just very lucky to have players who matured into great players. Anybody could have coached that side, like the great Australian side. Is John Buchanan a great coach? I’ve heard otherwise. My grandmother could have coached that Australia side. My son could have coached our side, two years ago, three years ago. </p><p>Really don't buy KP's claims that anyone could've coached that England side of 2 years ago. That side was made great, not born great.</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T09:05:55.487Z">10.05am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>So England are a big bunch of bullies, are they?</strong> That’s <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevinpietersen/11142212/Kevin-Pietersen-exclusive-interview-The-truth-about-Englands-bullying-culture.html">what KevKev says</a>, anyway. <br></p><p>It was allowed to develop. It’s in the book. The bowlers were given so much power. They were doing really well. Swanny [Graeme Swann] was winning game after game for us. Broady [Stuart Broad] was contributing. Jimmy [Anderson] was contributing. We always had a third or fourth seamer that was there or thereabouts. But these guys ran the dressing room. </p><p> The thing that horrified me the most was when Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss in Bangalore before the one-day internationals said: ‘Guys we’ve got to stop this, it’s not right for the team, there are guys that have come to [us] that are intimidated to field the ball.’ And they [the bowlers] had the audacity to stand there and say: ‘No, if they’ve f----- up we deserve an apology.’ It’s the most angry I ever got in that dressing room. I thought, I reckon I could hit these guys. Who do you think you are, to ask for an apology from someone who’s trying his heart out, who’s playing for his country, who’s making a mistake? </p><p>England's bowling attack. <a href="http://t.co/2GSPLCnNDe">pic.twitter.com/2GSPLCnNDe</a></p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T08:50:26.237Z">9.50am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>The most interesting aspect of the interview Pietersen <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevinpietersen/11142212/Kevin-Pietersen-exclusive-interview-The-truth-about-Englands-bullying-culture.html">has given to the <em>Daily Telegraph</em></a> is what he had to say about Matt Prior.</strong> To recap, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/06/kevin-pietersen-england-bullying-culture">here’s what Pietersen claimed about the former (?) England wicketkeeper</a>:<br></p><p>I went after Prior and said Prior shouldn’t be in that side because he’s a bad influence, a negative influence. He picks on players. He’s back-stabbing, he’s horrendous, he’s bad for the environment. He’s one bloke that quite a few - I could count on more than one hand - have said: ‘Please can you tell the world what that guy’s like.’</p><p>It’s only Prior that I’d seriously have real issues with, because of how he was portrayed as a team man, the heart and soul of the dressing room, when he was getting up to the stuff he was getting up to.”</p><p>After this morning I'm looking forward to reading the full kp book. Might bully my kids into getting it for me for Xmas!!</p><p>1/2 Obvs sad to see the accusations against me this am and I WILL have my right of reply! However today is not the day and Twitter is not..</p><p>2/2 ...the place for it! Now back to my Achilles rehab and learning to walk again! have a great day everyone</p><p class="block-time published-time"> <time datetime="2014-10-06T08:09:00.727Z">9.09am <span class="timezone">BST</span></time> </p><p><strong>Well, this is going to be good fun.</strong> Kevin Pietersen has never been shy of...well, he’s never been shy, and in promoting his eagerly-anticipated book, which is out this week, he has certainly done his best to ensure everyone is looking pretty hard at him. Pietersen loaded up the blunderbuss of ire, approached several targets in the England cricket set-up, pas and present, and given them both barrels, right into the mush. And frankly, who hasn’t called their former colleagues a right set of berks after having left the job? Nobody, that’s who, but not everyone can do so in a national newspaper while promoting the book you’ve just written, which one assumes will feature further such slagging off.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/live/2014/oct/06/kevin-pietersen-accuses-england-bullying-culture-latest-reaction">Continue reading...</a>Kevin PietersenEngland cricket teamMatt PriorAndy FlowerAlastair CookCricketSportMon, 06 Oct 2014 14:28:33 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/live/2014/oct/06/kevin-pietersen-accuses-england-bullying-culture-latest-reactionPhotograph: Tony Marshall/Getty ImagesKevin Pietersen has come out swinging, naturally.Photograph: Tony Marshall/Getty ImagesKevin Pietersen has come out swinging, naturally.Nick Miller2014-10-06T14:28:33ZKevin Pietersen’s book: which England players should be most afraid? | Andy Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/01/kevin-pietersen-autobiography-england-alastair-cook
Sacked batsman is ready to reveal all, and neither former team-mates nor management are expected to escape his wrath<br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/may/22/england-kevin-pietersen-paul-downton" title="">• Downton says players did not want Pietersen in side</a><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jul/26/kevin-pietersen-alastair-cook-resign-england-captain-ecb" title="">• ‘Only politics’ keeping Cook as captain, says Pietersen</a><p>The relish with which Kevin Pietersen informed his 1.96m Twitter followers on Tuesday afternoon about the<a href="https://twitter.com/KP24/status/516950391515545600" title=""> expiry of his confidentiality agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board</a> reinforced the suspicion that his imminent autobiography will contain a fair amount of score-settling.</p><p>Since that agreement was signed as part of the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/04/kevin-pietersen-england-ecb" title="">termination of his England contract</a> in February Pietersen has been forced to keep his powder reasonably dry, although there have been hints of what may lie in store both in his own newspaper columns and from the mouth of Piers Morgan, his most voluble supporter.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/01/kevin-pietersen-autobiography-england-alastair-cook">Continue reading...</a>Kevin PietersenEngland cricket teamJimmy AndersonAlastair CookCricketSportAndy FlowerPeter MooresMatt PriorAndrew StraussGraeme SwannWed, 01 Oct 2014 12:33:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/oct/01/kevin-pietersen-autobiography-england-alastair-cookPhotograph: Nick Potts/PAEngland's captain Alastair Cook is among those who can expect plenty of mentions in Kevin Pietersen's forthcoming autobiography. Photograph: Nick Potts/PAPhotograph: Nick Potts/PAEngland's captain Alastair Cook is among those who can expect plenty of mentions in Kevin Pietersen's forthcoming autobiography. Photograph: Nick Potts/PAAndy Wilson2014-10-01T12:33:04ZEngland’s status quo cannot prevail against India in third Test | Mike Selveyhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/22/england-status-quo-india-third-test
Places must come under scrutiny after England were taught a lesson at Lord’s but the squad retains a familiar look<p>It appeared to take a lot of selectorial deliberation to arrive at the conclusion that, with the exception of Matt Prior and Simon Kerrigan, the same England squad would travel to the Rose Bowl for the third Test as did to Lord’s for the second. Despite Alastair Cook’s unwavering support for his former second in command, Prior almost certainly beat the axe by announcing after the Test on Monday that he was stepping down, for the time being anyway, in order to address the fitness issues – dodgy achilles, iffy quad and a right hand like a schnitzel – that have dogged him for a while.</p><p>Kerrigan’s omission was also predictable given that few outside the England circle, and probably a number within as well, could understand what he was doing there in the first place beyond being a Ravindra Jadeja bowl-a-like in practice. Jos Buttler is Prior’s replacement, which, as he was shipped down to Trent Bridge before the first Test when there was an overnight doubt about Prior, is scarcely a surprise.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/22/england-status-quo-india-third-test">Continue reading...</a>England cricket teamIndia in England 2014India cricket teamAlastair CookMatt PriorCricketSportTue, 22 Jul 2014 19:56:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/22/england-status-quo-india-third-testPhotograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesJos Buttler in action during an England nets session before the first Test against India at Trent Bridge in early July. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesJos Buttler in action during an England nets session before the first Test against India at Trent Bridge in early July. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty ImagesMike Selvey2014-07-22T19:56:00ZEngland needed thunder but instead got another Matt Prior clanger | Mike Selveyhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/19/england-matt-prior-clanger-india-second-test
Shortcomings as well as his achilles have kept the wicketkeeper-batsman from reaching his previous Les Ames-rivalling best<p>Matt Prior is at his best when he is a man on a mission, with a cause to save or an advantage to be hammered home. Then he bristles. At times, St Jude might be his patron saint. The mundane interests him less. So the situation which faced him at the start of the third day was set up for him. England still had a significant deficit and the batting was down to the lower order.</p><p>Something thunderous from Prior was required. It was a dank morning though, the air thick as treacle with warm humidity, a morning for bowlers still and the ball but a few overs old.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/19/england-matt-prior-clanger-india-second-test">Continue reading...</a>Matt PriorEngland cricket teamIndia cricket teamIndia in England 2014CricketSportSat, 19 Jul 2014 19:46:17 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/19/england-matt-prior-clanger-india-second-testPhotograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action ImagesMatt Prior skulks off the Lord's pitch after being caught off during another frustrating game. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action ImagesPhotograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action ImagesMatt Prior skulks off the Lord's pitch after being caught off during another frustrating game. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action ImagesMike Selvey at Lord's2014-07-19T19:46:17ZEngland expect against India and should not fear the spirit of youth | Mike Selveyhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/01/england-india-youth-jos-buttler
<p>Young hands kept England competitive in the lost Sri Lanka series and Jos Buttler with the gloves would add to that</p><p>It was a smart move from Moeen Ali asking to be released from the Test side to go and play in Worcestershire’s current match against Glamorgan. He certainly does not need the batting practice, although he kept the pot boiling. At Headingley he had scored a century of real accomplishment and composure. Of the last five Test hundreds for England, all scored by the young players rather than the old sweats, it was matched only by that of Ben Stokes in Perth.</p><p>So he has gone back to bowl, conscious of the debate that is still rumbling about whether he constitutes a frontline spinner or is the pejorative part-timer, as some insist on labelling him. Actually the most important person he needs to convince of his credentials – he manages to spin the ball as much as any finger spinner around, with the resultant dip and swerve,which shows he clearly has an instinct for the right pace to bowl for the conditions and circumstance – is the captain, who declined to bowl him for almost 90 minutes of the match-defining partnership between Angelo Mathews and Rangana Herath.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/01/england-india-youth-jos-buttler">Continue reading...</a>England cricket teamIndia in England 2014CricketSportMatt PriorTue, 01 Jul 2014 19:00:13 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jul/01/england-india-youth-jos-buttlerPhotograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty ImagesMoeen Ali finally gets to turn his arm over for England on the fourth day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty ImagesMoeen Ali finally gets to turn his arm over for England on the fourth day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty ImagesMike Selvey2014-07-01T19:00:13ZEngland’s batting order looked wrong but came up right against Sri Lanka | Vic Markshttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jun/12/england-batting-order-sri-lanka
The middle order were all batting in unfamiliar positions, but after early wickets England will be happy with their first day’s work<p>England’s batting line-up is a work in progress and not entirely harmonious. There have not been too many quibbles about the personnel selected, but at Lord’s there was a reminder of Eric Morecambe’s memorable protest to André Previn that “I’m playing all the right notes ... but not necessarily in the right order”.</p><p>England, in the manner of Eric, may have selected the right batsmen, but not necessarily in the right order. Gary Ballance, who bats at five for Yorkshire, came in at No3, Ian Bell (three at Warwickshire) entered at No4, Joe Root, forever in the top four at Yorkshire, was at No5, and Moeen Ali (three at Worcestershire) batted at No6.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jun/12/england-batting-order-sri-lanka">Continue reading...</a>England cricket teamSri Lanka in England 2014Sri Lanka cricket teamJoe RootCricketMatt PriorSportThu, 12 Jun 2014 18:34:28 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jun/12/england-batting-order-sri-lankaPhotograph: Harry Engels/Getty ImagesMoeen Ali impressed with a 48 on his England Test debut on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka. Photograph: Harry Engels/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Harry Engels/Getty ImagesMoeen Ali impressed with a 48 on his England Test debut on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka. Photograph: Harry Engels/Getty ImagesVic Marks at Lord's2014-06-12T18:34:28ZJos Buttler sweeps Matt Prior aside in battle for the England gloves | Mike Selveyhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jun/03/jos-buttler-england-wicketkeeper-matt-prior-test-cricket
There’s a new wicketkeeper-batsman on the Test block and it’s time the baton was passed on to Lancashire’s special talent<p>He had made 36 when he wound up to play a pull shot through midwicket and instead sent a catch from his top edge spiralling towards the fielder posted at third man, a position once common in cricket but now apparently defunct along with flannels and trilby hats for umpires.</p><p>The fielder set himself to take the catch but fumbled it and it went to grass. Thus, for a while anyway, did Angus Fraser play his part in protecting the bowlers of the world from the blistering blade of Adam Gilchrist. The batsman at the Gabba that day in late November 1998 was Ian Healy, already an Australia veteran playing his 107th Test but under pressure for his place. A groundswell had suggested that the Ashes series was the time for the new order to be established and Gilchrist’s name was top of the list to come in.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jun/03/jos-buttler-england-wicketkeeper-matt-prior-test-cricket">Continue reading...</a>England cricket teamCricketMatt PriorSri Lanka in England 2014SportTue, 03 Jun 2014 12:00:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/jun/03/jos-buttler-england-wicketkeeper-matt-prior-test-cricketPhotograph: Kieran Galvin /RexEngland's Jos Buttler celebrates his century against Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI at Lord's.
Photograph: Kieran Galvin /RexPhotograph: Kieran Galvin /RexEngland's Jos Buttler celebrates his century against Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI at Lord's.
Photograph: Kieran Galvin /RexMike Selvey2014-06-03T12:00:03ZEngland favour statistical input over artistry with their wicketkeeper | Tim Lewishttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/feb/22/england-wicketkeeper-matt-prior-jos-buttler
England have put team ethics ahead of talent when it comes to their wicketkeeper since the 1970s - but will that trend continue?<p>O n the big stuff, the world often divides into two camps: there are creationists and Darwinists; some prefer <em>The Godfather</em>, while others favour <em>The Godfather: Part II</em>; then there are people who believe Bob Taylor should have been England's first-choice wicketkeeper throughout the 1970s and those who maintain that the selectors were right to overwhelmingly favour Alan Knott. In that last dispute, matters could become positively sectarian, with reverberations felt far beyond Taylor and Knott's respective heartlands of Derby and Canterbury.</p><p>The Taylor-Knott imbroglio was not a standard, frothy, sporting back-and-forth. It was not: should the England football team line up with Ashley Cole or Leighton Baines at left-back? It meant something. Your allegiance was a revealing comment on who you were and what you stood for. It was an aesthetic judgment, perhaps even metaphysical. A vote for Taylor showed you acknowledged the labours of a fine craftsman, that you could appreciate unshowy elegance, that you weren't distracted by razzle-dazzle. A preference for Knott, meanwhile, screamed that you were an ignorant heathen.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/feb/22/england-wicketkeeper-matt-prior-jos-buttler">Continue reading...</a>CricketEngland cricket teamSportMatt PriorSat, 22 Feb 2014 15:01:18 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/feb/22/england-wicketkeeper-matt-prior-jos-buttlerPhotograph: David Davies/PAJos Buttler's aggressive batting is seen as more important to England's one-day cricket than his keeping. Photograph: David Davies/PAPhotograph: David Davies/PAJos Buttler's aggressive batting is seen as more important to England's one-day cricket than his keeping. Photograph: David Davies/PATim Lewis2014-02-22T15:01:18ZAshes 2013-14: England desperate for fresh hope amid degeneration game | Mike Selveyhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/dec/23/ashes-england-matt-prior-jonny-bairstow
MCG Test may not herald a new era but it is surely humane to give Matt Prior a break and let Jonny Bairstow have the gloves<p>There is no more stirring sight than the walk to the "G" on Boxing Day morning. Three years ago, almost 90,000 people were packed and stacked into the giant bowl of the MCG, and by teatime all but around 10,000 of them had upped sticks and gone home to their cold turkey as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/dec/26/ashes-2010-australia-england-mcg" title="">Australia were bowled out for 98</a>. It was a prelude to what, with 157 without loss at the close, was arguably the most emphatic day England have enjoyed in any series here, and thence to the retention of the Ashes and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJRFc9EcKFw" title="">sprinkler dance</a>. Unless someone sets off the fire system there will be no sprinklers this year, no celebrations except in Australia's camp.</p><p>England, the Ashes already lost, will approach the match with all the good cheer of Christmas dinner with Oliver Cromwell.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/dec/23/ashes-england-matt-prior-jonny-bairstow">Continue reading...</a>Ashes 2013-14England cricket teamMatt PriorAustralia cricket teamCricketThe AshesAustralia sportSportMon, 23 Dec 2013 22:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/dec/23/ashes-england-matt-prior-jonny-bairstowPhotograph: Tony Ashby/AFP/Getty ImagesMatt Prior is a proud England cricketer of considerable achievement and has time on his side to resurrect his game. Photograph: Tony Ashby/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Tony Ashby/AFP/Getty ImagesMatt Prior is a proud England cricketer of considerable achievement and has time on his side to resurrect his game. Photograph: Tony Ashby/AFP/Getty ImagesMike Selvey in Melbourne2013-12-23T22:00:01ZWhy Matt Prior should be dropped for fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne | Mike Selveyhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/dec/22/why-matt-prior-should-be-dropped-melbourne-ashes-test
England's wicketkeeper looks shot. For his own good, and that of the team, he should make way for Jonny Bairstow<p>The wicketkeeper, so it is generally accepted, provides the heartbeat of the team. Imagine the field as a wheel and there is the stumper at the hub of it. The bowler bowls to his gloves, the fielders throw to them, often when the speediest method of getting the ball back to the bowler is to lob it gently from mid-off. He is the one who most obviously reflects the mood of the side, cajoling, imploring, urging and sometimes bullying. Sometimes he directs the traffic too from his vantage point. It is to him that the captain goes first when looking for the best information on a DRS review, and who can pass on information as to the behaviour of the ball in the air and off the pitch. And it is he who can growl distractingly when stood up to the stumps.</p><p>In this series though, the Australian heart has had a strong beat, that of an athlete, while England's, once as insistent, has faltered, arrhythmic, stuttering. While <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/dec/13/brad-haddin-ashes-australia-england" title="">Brad Haddin</a> has had the sort of run of success with bat and gloves that surely makes him a frontrunner for player of the series, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/matt-prior" title="">Matt Prior</a> has reached the stage where not even a pacemaker would help and a transplant might be necessary. The transformation in his fortunes has in its way been an individual representation of those of his team.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/dec/22/why-matt-prior-should-be-dropped-melbourne-ashes-test">Continue reading...</a>Ashes 2013-14Matt PriorThe AshesEngland cricket teamAustralia cricket teamSportCricketAustralia sportSun, 22 Dec 2013 22:04:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/dec/22/why-matt-prior-should-be-dropped-melbourne-ashes-testPhotograph: Anthony Devlin/PAMatt Prior misses a catch from David Warner during the third Test at the Waca. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PAPhotograph: Anthony Devlin/PAMatt Prior misses a catch from David Warner during the third Test at the Waca. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PAMike Selvey in Melbourne2013-12-22T22:04:00ZThe Spin | The catechism of cliche | Andy Bullhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/may/15/the-spin-matt-prior
There are many disingenuous cricketers out there, but when Matt Prior spoke of his embarrassment at being named England's player of the year, he was being sincere<p>Flann O'Brien, rare genius that he was, once composed a catechism of cliche to illustrate the barbarities inflicted on his beloved English language. "What is a bad thing worse than? Useless. If a thing is fraught, what is it fraught with? The gravest consequences. What does pandemonium do? It breaks loose." It's an idea fans could easily adapt. What do we do with the positives? Take them. What do the bowlers want to hit? The right areas. How do we take each game? As it comes.</p><p>This, I imagine, must be what that most modern sport phenomenon, media training, actually involves. Rank upon rank of budding young jocks being drilled as they sit behind their desks, learning the right answers by rote as the teacher reads them out and writes them up on the blackboard. Teacher: "What do we do to our skills?" Class: "Execute them!" Teacher: "What seat do we want to be in?" Class: "The box seat!"</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/may/15/the-spin-matt-prior">Continue reading...</a>Matt PriorEngland cricket teamCricketSportWed, 15 May 2013 11:52:33 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/may/15/the-spin-matt-priorPhotograph: Rob Griffith/APMatt Prior: a man who does what he says and says what he does. Photograph: Rob Griffith/APPhotograph: Rob Griffith/APMatt Prior: a man who does what he says and says what he does. Photograph: Rob Griffith/APAndy Bull2013-05-15T11:52:33ZMatt Prior: Heroic wicketkeeper-batsman who can tailor his batting | Andy Wilsonhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/mar/26/matt-prior-england-wicketkeeper-batsman
Matt Prior's brilliant century in Auckland has reignited the discussion of where he stands in comparison to wicketkeeper-batsmen such as Adam Gilchrist, Alec Stewart and Les Ames<p>Peter Moores, the coach who handed Matt Prior his debuts both for Sussex in 2001 and England six years later, has always been reluctant to compare him to Adam Gilchrist. The manner of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/mar/26/matt-prior-draw-new-zealand" title="">Prior's match-saving performance</a> in Auckland, which could hardly have been less Gilchristian, underlined why.</p><p>"Gilchrist was an unbelievable cricketer and he moved the goalposts for a wicketkeeper in terms of the way he batted and took games away from the opposition," said Moores after following Prior's heroics from Dubai, where Lancashire are playing on their pre-season tour. "What marks Matt out as special, certainly since he came back into the England team in India in 2008, is the ability to do whatever is required. That might be scoring quick runs to help win a game, or as we've just seen in New Zealand, it might be batting with other people to save a game. That's a pretty special quality. England are lucky to have him."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/mar/26/matt-prior-england-wicketkeeper-batsman">Continue reading...</a>Matt PriorEngland cricket teamEngland in New Zealand 2012-13CricketSportTue, 26 Mar 2013 15:57:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/mar/26/matt-prior-england-wicketkeeper-batsmanPhotograph: Phil Walter/Getty ImagesMatt Prior is embraced by Stuart Broad, left, as he leaves the field with Monty Panesar, far right, at the end of day five of the third Test between New Zealand and England. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Phil Walter/Getty ImagesMatt Prior is embraced by Stuart Broad, left, as he leaves the field with Monty Panesar, far right, at the end of day five of the third Test between New Zealand and England. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty ImagesAndy Wilson2013-03-26T15:57:23ZThe Spin | The curious case of Matt Prior and Craig Kieswetter | Rob Smythhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/sep/05/the-spin-matt-prior-craig-kieswetter
Matt Prior is deservedly in the ICC's World Test XI yet we may have seen the last of him in coloured clothing<p>Americans do not get irony, small portions and cricket. End of and fact. We know this because it says so in our Little Book of Stereotypes That Ignore Britain's Obese Obesity Problem, The Work of Larry David and America's Burgeoning Cricket Culture. Those jokes aren't funny anymore; those familiar with the work of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_King" title="">Bart King</a>, the remarkable 19th century fast bowler from Philadelphia, would tell you they never were. But the putative American still serves as a useful tool for celebration of cricket's unique depth and eccentricity. The five-day draw is the most common example of this – how could an American <em>possibly</em> understand – although there is an even better example in the England side at the moment.</p><p>Consider this for a logic googly. Person A is the most successful attacking player in his team when they play the least attacking of the three forms of cricket, yet in the two more attacking forms of the game he cannot get a game. He is kept out of the side by Person B, even though he is essentially superior in both roles that their position demands. Welcome to the curious case of Matt Prior and Craig Kieswetter.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/sep/05/the-spin-matt-prior-craig-kieswetter">Continue reading...</a>Matt PriorEngland cricket teamCricketSportWed, 05 Sep 2012 09:47:31 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/sep/05/the-spin-matt-prior-craig-kieswetterPhotograph: Reuters and AFPMatt Prior and Craig Kieswetter. Photograph: Reuters and AFPPhotograph: Reuters and AFPMatt Prior and Craig Kieswetter. Photograph: Reuters and AFPRob Smyth2012-09-05T09:47:31ZMatt Prior reminds South Africa of his quality as England's tail wags | Vic Markshttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/jul/20/matt-prior-south-africa-england
The wicketkeeper's authoritative innings prevented a home batting collapse on day two with runs that could prove so crucial<p>The impostors were not at their best at The Oval. Even so England, suddenly staggering on the ropes at 284 for six with Dale Steyn scenting more easy victims, contrived to finish with 385. The England tail, batting hares in rabbits' clothing, has rallied more spectacularly in the past but those 101 runs made a real difference.</p><p>England's total does not make them impregnable at The Oval – back in 2003 South Africa piled up 484 here in their first innings and lost the match by nine wickets. But it provides a reassuring ballast on a pitch that is supposed to deteriorate.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/jul/20/matt-prior-south-africa-england">Continue reading...</a>South Africa in England 2012England cricket teamMatt PriorSouth Africa cricket teamCricketSportFri, 20 Jul 2012 18:32:49 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/jul/20/matt-prior-south-africa-englandPhotograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action ImagesEngland's Matt Prior salutes the crowd at The Oval after his vital innings of 60 against South Africa in the first Test. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action ImagesPhotograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action ImagesEngland's Matt Prior salutes the crowd at The Oval after his vital innings of 60 against South Africa in the first Test. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action ImagesVic Marks at The Oval2012-07-20T18:32:49ZMy glove affair with keepers of the lost stumpers' arthttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/aug/02/wicketkeepers-ms-dhoni-matt-prior
Paul Nixon's upcoming retirement will mark the end of the line for eccentric international wicketkeepers<p>One way to gauge the gulf between England and India so far in this series has been the contrasting demeanours of the men behind the stumps. Ian Smith, the former New Zealand wicketkeeper, titled his autobiography Just a Drummer in the Band, and by his analogy Matthew Prior's keeping, agile, focused and supremely relaxed, sounds like Ringo Starr jauntily riding the hi-hat and nailing the fills while Mahendra Singh Dhoni, jaded, diffident and his timing gone to cock, reverberates like a one-man band tumbling down a marble staircase.</p><p>Both are examples of the new breed of batsmen-wicketkeepers, the trail blazed in unmatchable poise and elegance by Adam Gilchrist, who built on the foundations laid by Jeffrey Dujon and Alec Stewart with such brio to become the automatic pick for the overwhelming majority of pundits' rain-delay, all-time World XIs. The modern tribe are a polished bunch, immaculately groomed and kitted out, barely breaking out into a gentle glow, never mind anything so vulgar as sweating.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/aug/02/wicketkeepers-ms-dhoni-matt-prior">Continue reading...</a>CricketIndia in England 2011England cricket teamMatt PriorSportTue, 02 Aug 2011 21:59:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/aug/02/wicketkeepers-ms-dhoni-matt-priorPhotograph: Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesEngland's former one-day wicketkeeper Paul Nixon, left, looks on as Ricky Ponting hits out in a 2007 World Cup Super Eights match in Antigua. Photograph: Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesEngland's former one-day wicketkeeper Paul Nixon, left, looks on as Ricky Ponting hits out in a 2007 World Cup Super Eights match in Antigua. Photograph: Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesRob Bagchi2011-08-02T21:59:01ZWho is No1? How England are piecing together a perfect team | Rob Smythhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/aug/02/england-perfect-team
From coach to wicketkeeper-batsman, from spinner to backroom staff, England are leading the field on their way to the summit<p>Andy Flower is the sort of man who could inspire players to walk to the ends of the earth. He is considered, selfless, inventive, fiercely loyal yet also ruthless. Flower deals in eye contact and home truths, and treats Kipling's two impostors the same. Most of all, he gets results. England's Test record since he became full-time coach is P29 W18 D7 L4.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/aug/02/england-perfect-team">Continue reading...</a>England cricket teamCricketMatt PriorGraeme SwannAndy FlowerIndia cricket teamSportTue, 02 Aug 2011 20:43:16 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/aug/02/england-perfect-teamPhotograph: Tom Shaw/Getty ImagesMatt Prior's average of 45.10 has been bettered in Test history only by Adam Gilchrist and Andy Flower among wicketkeepers. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Tom Shaw/Getty ImagesMatt Prior's average of 45.10 has been bettered in Test history only by Adam Gilchrist and Andy Flower among wicketkeepers. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty ImagesRob Smyth2011-08-02T20:43:16ZMatt Prior's aggression was just what England needed | Vic Markshttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/jul/24/matt-prior-england-india
The England wicketkeeper put the fun in fundamental during an impressive unbeaten century which leaves India on the back foot<p>Matthew Prior replaced his bat very carefully back into its slot in the dressing room on completion of his sixth Test century. There was no tinkling of glass below. No apologies were necessary, just gratitude – from the batsmen above him in the order.&nbsp;Stick a red ball in front of Prior and he is dynamite.</p><p>After this match he averages 45 in Test cricket (no, we won't agonise whether he&nbsp;should bat at seven as a matter of policy); Mahendra Singh Dhoni averages 38. So far Prior has kept better than his illustrious counterpart in this match – though he is more used to the vagaries of Lord's, where the ball swings prodigiously after it has bounced. But Dhoni is the superior bowler.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/jul/24/matt-prior-england-india">Continue reading...</a>India in England 2011Matt PriorEngland cricket teamIndia cricket teamCricketSportSun, 24 Jul 2011 19:32:58 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/jul/24/matt-prior-england-indiaPhotograph: Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesMatt Prior stuck with his attacking instincts on the way to an important century for England at Lord's. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesMatt Prior stuck with his attacking instincts on the way to an important century for England at Lord's. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesVic Marks at Lord's2011-07-24T19:32:58ZMatt Prior's glass act and the Strange Case of the Bouncing Glove | David Hoppshttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/jun/07/matt-prior-broken-window-lords
England's dressing-room harmony was shattered after the wicketkeeper was run out in the Test match at Lord's<p>As mistimed headlines go, the one on the England and Wales Cricket Board website took some beating. "Prior hails dressing-room harmony," it said, a few hours before the very same Matt Prior fumed over being run out in the Lord's Test and the England dressing room rang to the sound of breaking glass.</p><p>MCC members ducked for cover in the pavilion as shards of glass descended on them. The rumour that one of them looked up and exclaimed: "By gad, it's war," cannot be substantiated. However, it is known that an Irish woman suffered a gashed ankle and was treated by the England medical staff before <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/jun/07/matt-prior-apologises-window-break" title="receiving an apology from Prior and the England captain, Andrew Strauss">receiving an apology from Prior and the England captain, Andrew Strauss</a>. She was in the pavilion as an associate member for the first time. It could have been much worse and health and safety will doubtless be taking a look.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/jun/07/matt-prior-broken-window-lords">Continue reading...</a>Matt PriorEngland cricket teamSri Lanka in England 2011CricketSportTue, 07 Jun 2011 19:49:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/jun/07/matt-prior-broken-window-lordsPhotograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty ImagesIt was the glove that done it, explains Matt Prior to MCC members after a window was broken following his run-out. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty ImagesIt was the glove that done it, explains Matt Prior to MCC members after a window was broken following his run-out. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty ImagesDavid Hopps at Lord's2011-06-07T19:49:00Z